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Jaden Schwartz scored the winning goal with less than seven minutes left and the St. Louis Blues held on for a 3-2 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. “I take responsibility on that one”.
Game 4 of the series will be Tuesday at the United Center.
That means, simply, that St. Louis needs to focus more on shooting and less on the physical side of the game.
At first, it looked like they may have been going with the latter option, as the Blues’ lack of composure was apparent early. Joel Edmundson took two penalties, one that led to a Chicago power play and played 11:31. Less than two minutes and a power play goal later, Jay Bouwmeester was whistled for hooking. Just like any call in a game whether icing or not, penalty or not, etc. only those who actually get to make the decision matter as their opinion becomes actual result.
Chicago also gets better later in series.
Third Period-None. Penalties-Hamonic, NYI (high-sticking), 4:38. He played a great game.
CHICAGO (AP) – The St. Louis Blues kept pushing and pushing until a costly play by Patrick Kane provided an opening. The fact that this team didn’t fold under the circumstances has to be encouraging for a St. Louis Blues team that hasn’t made it out of the first round since 2013. Outside of goaltender Brian Elliott, the Blues are still being the Blues. Chicago fired 24 shots on goal during the second period but failed to increase its lead.
The second intermission Sunday at the United Center couldn’t have come fast enough for the Blues, who needed a breather in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series against Chicago. It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the team to say he single-handedly won the game, but he has been the Blues’ best player for the entire series.
“No one said it was going to be a short series and even with them getting the win in Game 2, that didn’t affect us”, Schwartz said. “We need to find a different way to defend. We got some tough calls right away, after that we killed them off and we did a great job, like you said it kind of, definitely settles you in”, said Elliott.
But Elliott was not fazed, and put together one of his strongest games of the season amid a firestorm of Blackhawk shots.
The Blues earned a big win over the Blackhawks in Game 3. And he has not cracked under the pressure. From March 19 to December 3 of 2014, the Blues lost six straight in the Windy City, including three playoff games as they fell apart in that year’s disappointing first-round loss to the Hawks.
Elliott did allow Artem Anisimov’s goal 1:04 into the second period, but stopped the final 32 shots he faced, including the last 20 in the second period. “Obviously we have a history with St. Louis”. Chicago Blackhawks left wing Andrew Ladd, right, is checked by St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko during the first period in Game 3 of an NHL hockey first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 17, 2016, in Chi…
“First shot of the game, you never want to give that one up”, Elliott said.
Unfortunately for Chicago, the wheels came off in the third. Patrik Berglund opened the third period scoring 5:15 into the final period evening the score 2-2.
All throughout the third, the Hawks looked out of sync.
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Those were two shots out of 46 as the home ice made the Blackhawks more aggressive on offense but not exactly successful. Crawford was shaky after being highlight reel-worthy for the first two periods. 4, Florida, Bjugstad 2 (Smith, Kulikov), 7:23. “It’s a play where it’s a critical time in a game and you hope that they’re 100 percent sure with what they saw, they saw”.
